Plattsburgh native Craig Wells (right) had never been salmon fishing before his pal, Rusty Burnell (left), also of Plattsburgh, helped him land this eye-catching coho recently on the Salmon River in Pulaski.

Craig Wells (right) had never been salmon fishing before his pal, Rusty Burnell (left) lent him a pair of waders, a fly rod and reel, and some of the wisdom Burnell has acquired in over 40 years of fishing the Salmon River.

Properly equipped, Wells recently landed this silver bullet coho, his first salmon ever, with a net assist from Burnell’s son, Sidney.

The six-man crew from Plattsburgh, which Burnell calls “Salmon Team Six,” looks forward to fishing the Salmon River spawn every year. Now that they’ve got Wells hooked on the sport, he’ll be joining the team on future missions. In fact, Burnell said, before they left Pulaski, Wells dropped hundreds of dollars on new gear in preparation for next year’s run.

As for the coho Wells caught?

“Craig married it,” Burnell joked. “He took the fish home, being his first ever. I was kissing it farewell as it was leaving the Salmon River.”

The Telesky sisters, Tacie (left) and Sydney (right), of Milton, Penn., recently caught this pair of kings on the Salmon River.

The Telesky family of Milton, Pennsylvania, also recently made the trip up to the Salmon River to fish the spawning run and landed a bunch of kings. Here’s Tacie (left) and Sydney (right) with a pair of kings they caught on fly rods.

Will Mallen, 17, a student at Baldwinsville’s Baker High School, recently caught this chunky 30-plus-pound Chinook (top) and a bruiser of a steelhead (bottom) "mid river” in Oswego.

When Will Mallen, 17, a student at Baldwinsville’s Baker High School, isn’t doing homework, he’s either fishing or running his online fishing store.

“He eats and sleeps fishing,” said his dad, Chris Mallen.

Mallen recently caught these two monsters, a chunky 30-plus-pound Chinook (top), and a bruiser of a steelhead (bottom), “mid river” in Oswego. That’s about as specific as Mallen wants to get about the location.

For bait Mallen used his own hand-tied egg sacks, hooking the salmon clean in the mouth. He released it only after removing two other hooks that he found in the fish’s tail and cheek, evidence of previous anglers’ unsuccessful attempts at landing it.

Syracuse sportsman Jim Sollecito recently landed and released two Salmon River kings (including a 27-pounder) using a fly rod and reel, and size 6 pink and orange Estaz eggs.

Syracuse sportsman Jim Sollecito took his fly rod up to the Salmon River recently, as he does every year, and had a blast fighting 11 salmon, landing and releasing two, including a 27-pound Chinook. Sollecito used size 6 pink and orange Estaz eggs and a 12 pound fluorocarbon tippet.

“Now with the major leaf hatch it’s tough to fly fish,” Sollecito said. In autumn, falling leaves litter the surface of many rivers and streams, making it difficult to get a clean drift, he explained.

“Maple leaves can be flicked off with a hard mend of the line,” Sollecito said. “But oak leaves require retrieval of the fly and manually removing. But I had fun, and look forward to next year.”

Sarah Oliver, of Greece, NY, caught this 31-inch, 11-pound whale of a walleye on Lake Ontario recently on a Berkley flicker minnow.

Salmon might be taking center stage for many anglers right now, but the walleye bite is still going strong. Sarah Oliver, of Greece, NY, caught this 31-inch, 11-pound whale of a walleye on Lake Ontario recently on a Berkley flicker minnow.

Sarah and her husband, Cameron Hasner, own a house on Tug Hill where they spend all their free time walleye and salmon fishing the “big waters” of Lake Ontario, said Hasner.

Send us your fish pics!

We want to see your catch: salmon, of course, but also trout too, or walleye, bass, pike, muskie, perch, crappie, two-headed gobies. Just make sure to provide the name of anyone shown in the photo, their hometown, along with kind of fish, where they caught it, its size and weight (if possible), and the type of bait used. Tight lines, ya’ll.

Salmon fishing a tradition for this Upstate family - syracuse.com

Agony and ecstasy in Pulaski as anglers try their luck on the Salmon River (photos) - syracuse.com

‘Weights in fish!’ Pro anglers narrowly avoid getting filleted for cheating in Lake Erie walleye tournament - syracuse.com

At least 100 walleye mysteriously die in Otisco Lake; DEC trying to figure out why - syracuse.com

Upstate NY waterway ranked #1 in U.S. for bass fishing by Bassmaster Magazine - syracuse.com

Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.

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